Workman&#39;s check-receiver.



Patented Aug. 6, IBM.

. s. A. MARKER.

WORKMANS CHECK RECEIVER.

(Application filed Oct. 26, 1899.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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No. 679,766. Patented Aug. 6, I90l. S. A. MARKER. WORKMANS CHEOKRECEIVER.

. (Application filed (M. 20, 1899.) (N o M o d e l.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

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UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

STEPHEN A. MARKER, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

WORKMANS CHECK-RECEIVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 679,766, dated August6, 1901.

Application filed October 26, 1899. Serial No. 734,823. (No model.)

T0 to whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN A. MARKER, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Time CheckReceivers, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide an automatic time-recorderfor the purposes of recording or indicating the times of the arrival ofworkmen in factories and other places and which is as well adapted for acheck on night watchmen; and the object is to make it so simple inconstruction that the workman in simply depositing a check with hisnumber thereon will deposit the check (through the operation of themachine) into a time-receptacle or into a compartment of the recorder,which will indicate the time that it was deposited, thereby enabling theclerk to keep a positive record of the arrival of the workmen.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical centralcross-section of the case and the receptacles therein for containing thechecks. Fig. 2 is ahorizontal sectional view of the case, showing thearrangement of the mechanism and check-receptacles. Fig. 3 is a frontview of a modified-form of case containing same character of mechanismas is illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 4, an enlarged side view of the checkreceiving and delivering chute; Fig. 5, a side view of the dischargingend of the chute, showing the manner of operating the check-divertingmechanism; Fig. 6, a cross-section of the receiving end of thedelivery-chute; Fig. 7, a top view, partly in section, of the lower endof the chute; Fig. 8, a top view of the receiving end of the chute.

In constructing my invention 1 provide a case 9, which may be square inplan view or hexagonal in shape, as shown in Fig. 3, the latter formbeing preferable. The front walls 10 of this case are securedpermanently to the base l1,andthe upper end, preferably conical inshape, as shown at 12. I The rear walls 13 are removable and may besecured to the front walls by means of guideways 14: or hinged, as ismost desirable. Centrally in the top of the case is a tube 15, closed atits upper end and provided at one side with a slotted aperture 16 anddelivery-table 17, so that the workmen can readily deposit their checkson this table, and thus cause them to readily enter the slot 16. Thefront face or wall of the case has a clock 18, as shown, and within thecase and suitably secured through the base are two guideways 19, soadapted that the check-receptacles may be placed thereon and held inposition. This check-receptacle is composed of a cylindrical ring orshell 20, within which is placed a removable tray 21, and the shell 20has its base adapted in any suitable manner to slide on the guideways19, and when in position is centrally Within the case 9. Surroundingthis central shell 20 is a series of compartments 22, there being inthis instance twenty-four, all these compartments to representtwenty-four (24) divisions of time, and 'I prefer that'each division oftime or each compartment shall represent a period of five minutes. Eachcompartment has a base 23, slightly inclined, and the front wall iscomposed of a door or gate hinged at its upper end, as shown at 24, andthe lower end is provided with a spring-catch 25, so that it willnormally be held in a closed position, thus enabling the clerk to openeach compartment separately and permit him to remove the checkstherefrom in orderthat he ma enter the numbers of the checks in hisregister. Each compartment has a mark on its door, which numberindicates the time, andthese time indications are run regularly in orderfrom five to one hundred and twenty minutes, thus requiring a period oftwo hours to make a complete cycle. Centrally within the case is a ring26, held in position above the tray 21 by means of three arms 27, whichare attached to the case. Beneath one of the arms 27 is a shaft 28,which connects with the hour-stem of the clock 18, and the inner end ofthis shaft has a small bevel-wheel 29. Engaging with this bevel-wheel 29is a similar bevel-Wheel 30, secured to a vertical shaft 31, this shaftbeing secured in the housing 32 of a frame'33, which is attached to thering 26, and the lower end of this shaft 31 rests on a cross-bar 34below the ring 26. This shaft 31 is designed to carry a check-deliverychute 35. The upper end or mouth of this chute is shown in detail inFigs. 6 and 8. The rear wall 36 of this chute is A-shaped in horizontalsection and tapers down to the neck or bend of the chute. The front wallof the chute is cut away, leaving a narrow inturned flange, as shown, soas to receive therein a swinging door 37, also A-shaped in horizontalsection. This door is hinged at its upper end to the pintles 38 in thewalls 39, forming the ends of the chute, so that thelower end of thedoor is capable of a slight swing ing motion between the flanges at thefront of the chute and the rear wall. Near the upper end of the door 37is a forwardly-projecting horizontal stem which carries a weight 40, theobject of the weight being to normally keep the lower end of the door incontact with the rear wall of the chute. When, therefore, a check isdeposited in the mouth of the chute, the weight of the check will besufficient to swing forward or move outwardly the lower end of the door,and this swinging motion, in connection with the angled and inclinedsides of the door and rear wall of the chute, causes the check to turnwithin the mouth, so that it is properly directed into the contractedportion of the chute, and thus cause it to move forward and down throughthe chute without any material diminution of speed and also prevents itfrom sticking in the mouth of the chute. The lower end of the chute hasa broad base, and it will be observed by referring to Fig. 1 that itextends over the outer compartment 22 and also has a portion of the baseextending over the inner tray 21. The object is to enable the dis chargeend of this chute to deposit checksin either the inner tray 21 or theouter compartments 22, and for this purpose I secure a pin 40 throughthe front and rear wall of the lower end of the chute, and within thechute is placed a finger 41. The pin which projects through the frontwall has thereon a triplepointed head 42,with a central A-shaped point43, which projects upwardly, as shown. On the side of the discharge endof this chute is a horizontal lever 44, hinged at its outer end to anarm 45, secured to the chute, and a spring 46, secured to this hingedend, projects heneath the lower pointed end of the head, so as to holdpin 40 and the finger 41 in position after each action of the lever 44.The arm 45 has a circular bend 46 and centrally and upwardly projectingstem 47, to the upper end of which is secured a flat spring or lever 48,which projects downwardly and is designed to operate against theV-shaped portion of the head 42, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. A guard 49holds this lever 44 into such a position that it operates verticallyonly. The inner end of the lever 44 has an antifriciion-roller 50, thisroller being designed to operate against an inclined part-51, which isattached to and moves around upon the ring 26, said inclined piece beingdesigned to be moved or set at any particular point around the ring 26.

The object of the mechanism just described is for the purpose of givingan intermittent motion to the finger 41 within the chute. It will beobserved in the position shown in Fig. 5 that the lower end of thespring 48 is above the A-shaped point 43, so that when the roller 50 haspassed over the inclined piece 51 and the lever 44- again drops down toa horizontal position the end of the spring 48 will strike the V-shapedprojection of the head 42 on the left side of the pin 40, thus causingthe finger 41 to be thrown over to the position shown in Fig. 4, andthus the checks in the chute will be thrown into the outer compartments22. When, however, the lever 44 is again raised to the position shown inFig. 5, the A- shaped point 43 will then be on the left side of thelower end of the spring 48, and when the lever is again depressed to ahorizontal position the finger 41 will be thrown up, so as to divert thechecks into the tray 21. The object of this mechanism will be understoodmore clearly when it is stated that as there are twenty-fourcompartments, each representing five minutes of time, a period of twohours will elapse before the finger-lever 44 is set in operation.

We will suppose that it is desired to take the record of a workmanarriving during the two first working hours of the day-they are, say,from seven to nine. In that case the inclined piece 51 is turned aroundto that compartment, or rather to the division-line between thecompartment 120 and 5, and the finger 41 is thrown upwardly, or is atits highest point, as shown in Fig. 4, so that all checks deposited inthe receiver will be thrown into the compartments 22. As this chute isconnected through the medium of the shafts 28 and 31 with the hour-stemof the clock, it is obvious that the discharge end of the chute willtravel over the successive compartments 22, which correspond to thefive-minute intervals of the clock, and at the end of two hours therewill be two complete cycles of the hourhand, and all checks deposited bythe workmen will appear in their respective compartments 22, and thusindicate at what time within the limit of five minutes each check wasdeposited; but after two hours the finger 41 has been turned to theposition shown in Fig. 5, so that thereafter for the next two hours allchecks will be deposited in the inner tray, and then again thereafterfor the next two hours on the outside, the.

It is obvious that instead of twenty-four compartments thirty-six may beemployed for a three-hours period or twelve for a one-hour period; but Ihave shown herein the specific manner of depositing the checks for acertain period in the outer compartments and then have the subsequentchecks that it is not desirable to take any note of deposited in theinner tray, and I do not confine myself, therefore, to any number ofcompartments nor to any specific period of time for each compartment.

The device, as shown, is very simple in con st-ruction, is operatedautomatically by the movement of the checkwork and parts actuatedthereby, and requires no manipulation except the initial one of locatingthe angled piece 51 to represent some determinate starting-point for thedelivery of the checks. As shown, I employ a counterweight 52 for thepurpose of balancing the chute on the shaft 31, so as to cause as littlefriction as possible to the moving parts.

What I claim as new is 1. A time-check receiver, composed of a casehaving therein a series of compartments surrounding aseparately-removable receiving-check tray, the compartments and traybeing on a horizontal plane and resting on the base of said case, andadapted to be horizontally removed from the case at one side, and acheck-delivery mechanism operated by a clock, which delivers checks inthe concentrically-arranged compartments during certain predeterminedperiods, and during the intervening periods in the central check-tray,and automatically resets itself at the end of each period, substantiallyas shown.

2. A time-check receiver, having Within the case centrally aseparately-removable tray or receptacle for checks, and surrounding saidtray on the same horizontal plane, a series of check-receivingcompartments, in combination with a check-delivery chute above said trayand compartments, adapted to automatically deliver checks in either theouter compartments or the inner tray during certain predeterminedperiods, substantially as set forth.

3. In a time-check receiver, a case having centrally within the same ahorizontally-removable check-receptacle, and surrounding said receptacleand on the same horizontal plane, a series of compartments, incombination with a check-delivery chute above said compartments and trayadapted to be set so as to automatically deposit checks in either thecentral check-tray or in the compartments surrounding the central trayat certain predetermined periods, substantially as set forth.

4. A time-check receiver, composed of a case having a clock on one sidethereof, eX- teriorly, and a check-delivery chute within the casemounted on a shaft and geared to operate with the clock, said chutehaving an enlarged mouth beneath the top wall of the case, the rear wallof which is A-shaped in horizontal section, and provided with asimilarly-formed A-shaped door for the front wall of said chute, thedoor being hinged at its upper end to the chute, and means for normallyholding the lower end of the door against the rear wall of the chute forthe purpose of di ver-ting the checks into an inclined channel in thechute, substantially as shown.

5. A time-check receiver, composed of a case with a clock therein and acheck-recording chute mounted on a vertical shaft geared with saidclock, the discharge end of said chute being enlarged so that theopening thereof projects over both the inner tray and the outercompartments beneath, and having within said discharge end a finger todivert the checks to the inner tray or to the outer compartments, saidfinger being operated by a lever hinged to the chute, provided at itsinner end with a roller-bearing, in combination with an inclinedadjustable piece on a central ring below said roller-bearing and anA-shaped swinging door on the upper end of the delivery-chute fordiverting the checks into the body of the chute, substantially as shown.

6. In a time-check receiver, the combination, with a clock, itsmechanism, and a central arbor operated thereby, of a series ofcheck-receiving compartments concentrically disposed around a removablecentral checktray, said compartments and tray being on the samehorizontal plane, a check-delivery chute on said arbor rotativelyarranged above said compartments, and mechanism in the discharge end ofsaid chute arranged to antomatically adjust the tripping device for thedelivery of a deposited check into the concentrically-disposedcompartments or into the central tray at certain predetermined periods,as set forth.

7. In a time-check receiver, the combination with a clock, itsmechanism, and a central arbor operated thereby, of a series ofcheck-receiving compartments concentrically disposed around an innercheck-tray, and on the same horizontal plane, a check-delivery chute onthe same arbor, rotatively arranged above said compartments and tray,meansin the discharge-opening of said chute whereby saiddischarge-opening can be diverted to the central tray or to the outercompartments, and means connected with said operating mechanism forautomatically actuating and setting said mechanism in the delivery-chuteto open its discharge for the delivery of a deposited check into one ofsaid compartments or into the inner tray at certain predeterminedperiods, substantially as shown.

8. In a time check receiver, a series of check-receiving compartmentsconcentrically disposed around an inner removable checktray, both beinghorizontally removable from the containing-case, in combination with aclock, its mechanism, and a central arbor operated thereby, acheck-delivery chute on said arbor rotatively arranged above saidcompartments, and mechanism in the discharge-opening of said chutewhereby said discharge-opening can be automatically diverted and resetfor the delivery of a deposited check into one of the aforesaid outercompartments or to the central tray, said mechanism consistingessentially of a hinged lever and an inclined piece secured adjustablyto a ring above the central tray, substantially as set forth.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,this 23d day of Witnesses:

A. J. ZERBE, O. F. DELANY.

